[HPforGrownups] Re: Dumbledore

[Richelle Votaw]

No: HPFGUIDX 42816



> Richelle gave several examples of Dumbledore not helping Harry deal
> with the information he gives him, including:
>
> <<1) In SS/PS, Harry's in the hospital wing.  Dumbledore tells him
> about his mother's sacrifice.  Then becomes interested in a bird out
> the window while Harry wipes away tears on the sheet.  Why pretend
> not to notice?  Sure, boys aren't supposed to cry.  But can't we get
> away from that stereotype?  Harry's never had a chance to grieve for
> his parents, let him cry and tell him it's okay.>>
>
> Porphyria comments:
>
> . On the other
> hand, I think the way that Harry deals with his own sense of weakness
> and his trust in adults will change with time. It's quite a triumph
> when Harry finally confides in Dumbledore about his scar, and it's
> quite dramatic when Harry finally lets Molly comfort him at the end
> of the book. So I think that Dumbledore is just trying to let Harry
> deal with this part of himself in his own good time.

Perhaps I'm being too much of a softy. :)  It takes four years, but you're
right, at the end of GoF it seems like Harry is ready to just let it all
out.  Maybe everything has been building and building inside of him and it's
just time to let it go.  Harry's eyes start to burn and he starts blinking.
Mrs. Weasley whispers "It wasn't your fault, Harry."  Harry replies "I told
him to take the cup with me." (Harry pauses here to wish that Ron would look
away.  Like it would be okay to cry in front of Mrs. Weasley, even Hermione,
but not Ron.) At this point  Mrs. Weasley can do nothing but hold him.
Which seems to be the release point.  Page 714 says "The full weight of
everything he had seen that night seemed to fall in upon him as Mrs. Weasley
held him to her."  And everything he had seen that night is pretty much the
compilation of everything that's been building over the years.  His mother's
face, his father's voice, etc.  I suppose Dumbledore does know best, but
I'll just never understand men. :)

Richelle